Epilogue 2
Ten Years Later
Jake
O ctober's already getting chilly this year. Levi and July are talking about snow already up at the ski resort where July works as the fancy restaurant’s chef.
Down here in town, however, we're still enjoying cool days perfect for sitting on the porch while the kids play in the yard.
"Come out here and sit with me, wife!" I holler through the screen door leading into the house.
Ivy and Phoenix have been fussing over pies that Phoenix brought up ready to bake and the girls have been in the kitchen a long time.
July and Levi snuggle on one of the couches on the wrap-around patio I extended a few years back. Adam's been manning the grill while we watch the kids out in the yard.
When I bought this house fifteen years back, I didn't have plans for it. I knew I was staying on the Ridge long term and I needed a place to live. Buying the simple three bedroom, two bath house on the wooded lot in town was in my budget and seemed like a good investment.
Then Ivy came into my life and the simple structure became a home.
The guys helped me add the front porch that fall.
Despite all our efforts, it took us a year to get pregnant. Rachel's about the same age as Levi and July's oldest and the girls have been alternating between best friends and rivals for Adam's son's attention since they started school together.
Our second girl, Chloe, came hot on the heels of her older sister, with barely two years between them, but we put almost five years between Chloe and the boys.
Not that we were planning on the two for one deal with got with Ivy's last pregnancy. Abel did one of those sneaking past the heart monitors thing and didn't wave at the camera until Doctor Jones suggested a third ultrasound to see why the pregnancy wasn't progressing as expected.
The twins made a caterwauling entry into the world seven weeks later and haven't stopped yelling, kicking, running, and torturing their older sisters since.
"There's my wife."
Ivy's sweet ass swings with her walk as she makes her way around the patio furniture, dropping off ice cold beers that were requested from the house before coming to sit beside me.
Before she can drop that luscious bottom on the seat cushion, however, I pull her onto my lap.
Ten years and counting and this woman still gets me worked up.
We have gotten better at behaving ourselves in front of company though. So Ivy wiggles her butt against my groin, knowing good and well what she does to me. But I keep my hands in view, with one on my beer and one on my woman's thigh.
"Pies are cooling," Phoenix tells our small group of friends as she head toward her husband, making no effort to behave herself when she cops a feel of my buddy's ass while he turns skewers of vegetables on the grill.
The guys and I have gotten closer as we all married up and started families around the same time. We're still working for Murdock Timber; the Murdock's have mostly retired now. I'm running the office and the guys have moved up in ranks over the years too.
We're not the ones camped out at work sites anymore. We leave that to the young guys coming in to the industry who don't have families to get home to at night.
"Dinner!" Adam shouts to get the kids rounded up while Levi and July help get food ready to be devoured.
Later, we might have a fire in the pit if the kids are still awake, but our friends will clear out around nine.
Then I'm going to lock the door to our bedroom and get revenge on my wife for all the little ways she's managed to touch my dick when no one's looking.